I’ll keep this somewhat short.
Stan and I were on a road trip towing my car trailer to Kerrville sat after work. An odd intermittent noise - (more of a hissing noise than a grinding) surfaced near Hico (on our way to highway 281)…pretty certain it was from the AC Compressor so we opted to continue on without the AC - the noise seemed to “go away” (at highway speeds) and since it was late on Saturday night - I thought once we at our destination - I would take care of whatever the issue was.
It was a good plan…
We stopped for fuel at a wally world in Marble Falls and the noise was very audible - in a bad bad way. What loud part failing noise is ever good on the road over 200 miles from home?
Stan called (yes called - poor wireless reception) the local hotels…all had no vacancies on this Memorial Day weekend, except one that was 1.4 miles away…so we checked in - two beds in the only room left.
Sunday morning Stan’s friend drove up from Kerrville and picked him up and left.
In the daylight I could see the ac clutch bearing had failed. I always take a tool bag with me on a road trip…O’Reilly’s was a short walk across the street (I would do this walk 4 times).
Bought a new clutch and a pair snap ring pliers ( based on Stan’s You Tube video - it was retained by a snap ring) this would be an easy hour fix…apparently “my” clutch bearing failure didn’t match the easy you tube one.
This is a pic of the AC compressor clutch bearing plate and cover that had failed - which has to be removed. There is an 8mm bolt holding the cover on, easy to remove. The bearing plate has an external snap ring - not the easiest to get out, but doable after turning the wheels to the right for a little more access. The problem was sliding the pulley off the hub of the compressor - not happening (not like in the perfect video of course).
In order to gain access for the “free 2 arm puller rental” from O’reillys, I had to remove the air filter housing, misc covers, radiator, intake snorkel, expansion tank - all to have room to get the puller on the bearing plate, and stuck it was. Note the purple gloves are covering the ends of the transmission cooler lines from dirt and debris.
Sunday turned out to be hot and humid then the close in lightning and heavy rain shut down my operation on the ride of a road under a large tree. Still managed a sunburn.
Monday afternoon we drove back to DFW.
My options were slim - either figure out how to repair it myself with the tools I had with me or what?
Basic costs in the end : 2 nights in a hotel, a pair of snap ring pliers, roll of paper towel, WD40, ac clutch, serpentine belt, 2 gallons of coolant, good exercise walking to and from the parts store.
noted during this experience - my radiator is starting to seep coolant on one end tank - so a new radiator, hoses and thermostat are in my future. Also to put hand cleaner in the road trip tool bag
